Time for Mayor Sessions to start leading

Saturday

May 10, 2014 at 2:30 PM

It's been six months since voters elected Mayor Scott Sessions — and in that time Sessions has admittedly taken some time to get comfortable in the role as leader of council and the face of the city.For anyone taking over the seat, an adjustment period is to be expected, but the citizens need more from Sessions, especially with such important issues on the table week after week.If ever there was a time for Mayor Sessions to show his leadership abilities and help guide council during tough decisions it was at Monday night’s city council meeting. That, however, was not the case as Sessions sat quietly during most of the important deliberations, only offering significant comment on City Manager Linda Brown’s contract.Even then, it was to criticize Brown’s request for a severance package in case she were fired without due cause; a standard contract request that was actually beneficial to the city should such a firing occur. Even those who spoke out against Brown's contract found no issue with that proposed provision.In November, Sessions — then a councilman — ran for mayor on the platform of uniting council, uniting the city, increasing the budget for local street repairs and revitalizing the downtown area.Six months into his term, none of that appears to have happened.While six months is far too short of a term for Mayor Sessions’ goals to have been fulfilled completely, there has been little to no progress, either. Whether any members of council will admit it publicly or not, council is as divided as ever. It’s not a secret, as many residents have pointed out the divide directly to council at meetings or through other communications.People are not always going to get along and agree on every issue, but every indication I've received from members of council is that the mayor isn't doing anything behind the scenes to help find common ground, either.When I asked Mayor Sessions about his plan for fixing the streets in November, he said he wanted to see the budget increased from around $300,000 a year to $600,000. In the proposed 2014-15 budget, no such increase has been made and to my knowledge, Sessions has not made any public comment on the streets at any city meetings.During Monday’s council meeting, Sessions again sat quietly while the budget was being discussed and while the conversation was dominated by talk of cutting a police officer from the force, there was no other talk about the budget.With the clock ticking on getting the budget passed, Sessions has little time to even attempt to live up to his campaign promises. That’s not to say he can actually get the budget raised to $600,000 a year by simply saying it must be done, but he should at least bring the discussion to the table.The voters in Hillsdale elected Mayor Sessions because of his experience on council and all the wonderful things he spoke about during his campaign. Granted, it takes time to settle into the role as mayor, but six months is plenty of time.Now it’s time to live up to his promises.Matt Durr is a reporter with The Hillsdale Daily News. Follow him on Twitter @mdurrHDN.